About Aqua Babies

Take to the water… and discover why you should choose Aqua Babies

Aqua Babies was set up in 1999 by former Primary School teacher Wendy Edmondson. Wendy took the decision to leave full time teaching to become a baby swim instructor and set up Aqua Babies when she saw that there was a lack of local baby swimming programmes in the North West. Initially she taught baby swimming classes one evening each week but word spread and their popularity grew very quickly.

Take to the water… and trust in Aqua Babies long standing reputation

Sixteen years later Aqua Babies 1,200 babies enjoy classes each week, with eight full-time teachers, two Baby and Pre-school tutor/examiners, who are also qualified pool plant engineers (ensuring high quality pool water) and three administrators who are always happy to help and support.

Take to the water… and enjoy peace of mind for you and your baby

Aqua Babies was the first Baby Swim School to achieve STAmark* accreditation in 2005. Regularly re-assessed, our latest review in 2012 not only repeated past distinction awards but also scored us as one of the top three baby swim schools nationally – an outstanding result for a local company! The accreditation gives you huge peace of mind and assurance of best practice both in the pool and in customer care.

Our recent STAmark report stated:

‘It was clear from the assessment that the team responsible for managing and developing Aqua Babies are committed to the principles of continuous improvement and wherever possible ensures that all those involved in the delivery of the programme maintain the highest possible standards in all areas. Staff appeared to be highly motivated, appropriately qualified and willing to take on extra duties to ensure that service delivery is never compromised.

‘An outstanding feature about this company was the dynamic and enthusiastic nature of the management…. The strong belief and enjoyment in their work leads to a passionate desire to spread the word about baby swimming and its benefits and to ensure that their own company reflects that belief.

‘Excellent governance positions the business as the leading providers of parent and baby swimming teaching provision within Greater Manchester’

STAmark Assessment report, March 2012

Take to the water… with our fantastic teachers

Our teachers are qualified baby swim instructors.

Not only is their training specific to infant aquatics but they also train for a further 3 – 6 months before going solo with classes under their charge.

As our team grows each new teacher is placed under an experienced teacher’s wing.

Many of our teachers began as parents in the pool. Loving their classes and seeing huge benefits they wanted to share the experience and so became teachers themselves.

Your teacher is here to help and support you throughout your time swimming with us.

We are happy to call our parents outside of class time to chat about your babies and your swim sessions.

Take to the water… and swim with your baby in our specially selected Pools

Aqua Babies pools are carefully selected. Many of the pools we hire are Special Schools’ Hydrotherapy pools which are kept at temperatures ideal for small babies and offer the perfect ambiance, setting the scene for relaxed classes.

Where these pools are not available we also use some small hotel or leisure club pools where the temperature is still at least 30˚.

Take to the water… when swimming in warm water babies are relaxed and happy

The temperature of the pool is really important because when swimming in warm water babies are relaxed, happy and eager to learn.

Aqua Babies is also privileged to have our very own private semi-hydro pool near Altrincham. Both the pool and the changing areas have been designed with your babies and toddlers in mind.

Take to the water… and swim with your baby in quality-tested water

Our teachers are all trained in pool water testing and can test the water before they start each class, ensuring the highest standards for you and your baby.

The special partnership Aqua Babies has with each school or club is extremely important to us for the benefit of both our parents and the facility. The payments for hiring the pools helps to maintain the facilities for the children at the schools.

Take to the water… and be a part of our successful Programme

Our tried and tested programme has been developed from techniques pioneered in Australia and the USA and which were introduced to the UK over 20 years ago.

Aqua Babies is committed to continuously improving, reviewing and growing our programme, looking at all current and new methods within the baby swimming world.

Each course has a combination of specific skills to achieve as well as meeting individual needs for each baby.

Each level is progressive; however your baby’s specific needs are catered for through each teacher’s careful, individual planning for every lesson. Much preparation goes into each class; no class is alike in character.

Each skill has small progression steps to ensure that confidence is maintained and built upon. We use many games and songs to ensure the classes are both relaxing and lots of fun.

Take to the water… and burst with pride as your toddler swims independently

On completion of the Aqua Babies programme toddlers are able to swim 5 or 10 metres independently, as well as having learned many safety skills.

Take to the water… and be the proud parent of a happy, confident toddler who can swim!

Most importantly, when they have completed the programme your babies will be happy, confident toddlers with huge smiles and extremely proud parents!